From where does the world look flatter? A comparative analysis of foreign coverage in world news

What is it about?

How does world news coverage differ across countries and source types? This study compares the extent of foreign coverage and the level of inequality in world news from 16 countries in five regions: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, among four types of news websites: International news agencies, national newspapers, broadcast channels, and news aggregators over a period of 2 years between 2013 and 2014. Findings show that western news sites were among the least unequal, while Asian news sites among the most unequal. International news agencies displayed the highest extent of foreign coverage, while news aggregators displayed the lowest. As news aggregators collect and customize news from a variety of local sources, they further perpetuate and even intensify the narrow representation of the world.

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